Jurisdiction tiff resurfaces

Pindi, Islamabad police each claim crime took place in other’s domain

RAWALPINDI:

A robbery in a private housing society along the River Soan has fallen prey to territorial wrangling between the Islamabad and Rawalpindi police, with officers from both cities claiming that it fell in the jurisdiction of the other.

Sultanuddin told The Express Tribune that four armed men broke into his house at around 9am on Friday. The victim claimed that the dacoits held him and his family hostage while they proceeded to turn his house upside down looking for valuables.

The robbers eventually fled after stealing Rs100,000 in cash, jewellery and some other valuables.

Sultanuddin said that he subsequently went to the Morgah police station and lodged a complaint. Thereafter, the Morgah police station SHO and the Potohar SP Syed Ali visited his house to inspect the situation.

Instead of conducting an investigation and consoling the complainant and his family, Sultanuddin claimed that the officers started to tell him how they could not help him because his house was not located in their jurisdiction. Instead, they urged him to approach the Sihala police station, which falls within the purview of the Islamabad Police.

With little other choices, Sultanuddin called the Islamabad Police.

However, when officers from the Sihala police arrived at this house, the victim was shocked when they told him what officers from the Rawalpindi police had told him, that his house was located outside of their jurisdiction and that he should contact the police of the other city.

Sultanuddin cried that he had been robbed while his family had been held hostage in their own home, but a case for the incident could not be registered due to jurisdiction issues between the police for the two cities he found himself sandwiched in between. He demanded that Prime Minister Imran Khan take notice of the issue.

Two cops booked

Meanwhile, three people, including two constables, have been booked while a clerk was suspended on complaints lodged against them during a khulli kucheri (town hall) organised by Rawalpindi City Police Officer (CPO) Ahsan Younas on Saturday.

During the regular khulli kucheri, a woman filed an application with the CPO Younus against her son-in-law Sagheer.

She claimed that Sagheer used to abuse her daughter and did not let her visit her. The complainant added that when she and her family went to Sagheer’s house to meet her daughter, the suspect’s brother Naveed assaulted them.

Acting on the complaint, CPO Younas ordered the Kallar Syedan SHO to register a case against the suspects.

Later, when Sagheer was summoned to the police station for investigation, police constables including Saleem Akram and Chaudhry Naveed accompanied him. The policemen started abusing the station’s staff and created bedlam.

A constable of the Kallar Syedan police tried to push them out of the room at which they started beating the officer. The Kallar Syedan registered a case against all three suspects.

Further, a retired traffic warden complained with CPO that a clerk named Imran sought a bribe from him for legitimate work. The CPO ordered immediate suspension of the clerk .

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2020.